Berkshire Hathaway sold stakes in three financial firms and increased its position in an alcohol company and a mystery business
Warren Buffett may be stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway $BRK.B’s CEO at the end of the year, but he’s still making all sorts of market moves until then. In the holding company’s latest SEC filing, Berkshire reported that it was a net seller of U.S. stocks, buying $3.2 billion and selling around $4.7 billion.
Berkshire sold 7.2% of its stake in Bank of America — 48.7 million shares for an estimated $2.1 billion — as it continued a move that began in the back half of 2024, when it sold 34% of its stake. Buffett’s company also offloaded 4% of its stake in Capital One and sold all its remaining shares in Citi.
That retreat from banking appears to be part of a broader realignment. While Berkshire is unwinding some of its traditional financial holdings, it’s also doubling down on consumer-facing plays — namely, beverages.
Berkshire saw an opening in Constellation Brands $STZ (STZ), doubling its stake to more than 12 million shares from the 5.6 million it purchased in the fourth quarter. Constellation is the parent company of Corona and Modelo — which continues to gain traction in the U.S., especially among Hispanic consumers — along with premium wine labels like Robert Mondavi and Kim Crawford. Shares of Constellation rose over 3% overnight following the disclosure.
While alcohol has been less trendy among younger purchasers (cannabis-infused and nonalcoholic drinks are growing in popularity), Buffett, the “Oracle $ORCL of Omaha,” has made a large chunk of his fortune on buying stocks he thinks are undervalued.
The holding company also made another big purchase — but it’s unclear just what it was. In the SEC filing, Berkshire said it “has omitted from this public Form 13F one or more holding(s) for which it is requesting confidential treatment.” That kind of secrecy often signals that Berkshire is building a large position over multiple quarters and doesn’t want to alert the market too early.
The $2 billion line item was filed under the vague “commercial, industrial, and other” category — Barron’s speculated the mystery stock could be an industrial company.
The 13F filing represents a slightly out-of-date snapshot because companies have 45 days after a quarter ends to disclose their holdings. Berkshire’s latest filing only covers positions as of March 31 — so it doesn’t include any moves it made as a result of President Donald Trump’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff announcement on April 2.
It’s unclear how much of this decision-making came from Buffett, his portfolio managers (Todd Combs and Ted Weschler, who normally handle smaller investments), or his successor, Greg Abel. Buffett has delegated more capital allocation to Abel, who will take over at the end of the year.
“I think the prospects of Berkshire will be better under Greg’s management than mine,” Buffett said during the company’s annual meeting. earlier this month.
“It’s working way better with Greg than it did with me,” Buffett said. “I just didn’t want to work as hard as he does.”
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